Lever mechanism for ball cocks



Aug. 25, 1953 H. F. SMITH Q 2,649,772

LEVER MECHANISM FOR BALL cocxs Filed April 15, 1952 INVENTOR. HARRY F-SMITH BY RIC HE Y, WA 775, EDGE)? ro/v wvs NEN/VY ATTORNEYS PatentedAug. 25, 1953 LEVER LIECHANISM FOR BALL COCKS Harry F. Smith, Lexington,Ohio, assignor to Mansfield Sanitary Pottery, 1110., Perrysville,

Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April 15, 1952, Serial No.282,500

6 Claims.

1 This invention relates to ball cock valves and is particularlyconcerned with a new lever mechanism for actuating the plug of such avalve.

Ball cock lever mechanism as constructed heretofore has been awkward,unsatisfactory and unnecessarily expensive in labor and material.

Such mechanism has employed two or more pivot pins screw-threaded tolegs on the valve body which legs were small in cross-sectional area andthus liable to bending and breakage. These legs were expensiv becausethey had to be formed by coring or milling and were easily bentwhenbeing cleaned in the foundry. Also they had to be drilled and'tappedfor pivot pins and straightened whenever they had been bent duringmachining. Often the levers which were superimposed on the valve bodywere too high to fit under the cover of the tank. The drilling operationrequired drills of two diameters and thus each arm had to be separatelysupported so that the pressure of the drill would not bend the arms outof line.

The present invention aims .to avoid these several disadvantages andachieves that object by providing lever mechanism in which the leversare movable loosely in the arms, are pivotally connected together attheir adjacent ends by a single pin and may be disassembled from thevalve by removing the pivot pin and sliding the levers out of theirretaining slots in the arms.

The present invention will be better understood by those skilled in theart from the following description read in conjunction with the drawingsin which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a ball cockvalve embodying the present invention with the parts shown in valveclosed position;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but with the parts shown in valveopen position;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view in exploded position of the parts of thevalve mechanism of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, the valve body I is located at the upper end of aninlet pipe 2, has a forward extension 3 from which an outlet pipe 4extends downwardly with its open end to be near the bottom of a flushtank. A valve plug 5 extends vertically down into the valve body and isprovided with a gasket to engage a valve seat at the upper end of theinlet pipe 2. Plug 5 near its upper end is provided with a trans- 2verse opening 6 through which a lever may extend.

A rear column [0 extends upwardly from the rear side of valve body I andis provided with a rectangular slot II to receive the end of a lever. Afront column I5 extends upwardly and forwardly from portion 3 of thevalve body and is provided with a rectangular slot I6 extendingtherethrough which is to receive a lever.

The rectangular slots H and I6 may be very easily and accuratelyproduced by punching in an ordinary punch press, the brass casting beingregistered in the press by a guide pin and stop to engage the previouslymachined bore and top surface that receives the valve plug 5.

A first flat lever 20 is provided near its midportion with oppositearc-shaped edges 2| to lie in and engage surfaces of the slot 6 in plug5. Near its forward end this lever has downwardly and forwardlyextending flanges 22 at its opposite sides. One of these flanges isdrilled and the other is tapped to receive a pivot pin 23. A second fiatlever 25 extends through opening [6 in front column I5, is provided witha hole near its rear end to receive the pivot pin 23 and is provided atits forward end with a threaded.

The upper edge socket to receive float rod 25. of the lever 25 isprovided with a notch 2'! adapted to engage the upper portion of thecolumn [5, the said notch being also provided with a lip 28 to engagethe rear side of the column under certain conditions. The lower edge ofthe lever 25 is provided with an arcuate portion 29 centered about thenotch 21 and at such a distance from it as to prevent the disengagementof this notch from the rectangular slot IS in the support column I5,while allowing the lever to pivot freely on the notch. At the forwardend of this arcuate surface is a stop 30 adapted to engage the forwardedge of the column l5, and thus limit the downward travel of thetfloatarm and float. The opposite end of the arcuate surface is pro vided witha notch 3| wide enough to embrace the lower edge of the rectangularopening in column I5 when the lever 25 is rotated in a counterclockwisedirection, and deep enough to permit the lever to dropdown to disengagethe notch 21 in the upper edge of the lever, which may then be clearedfrom the supporting column by removing the pivot pin 23 and rotating thelever in a clockwise direction about the notch 3|.

If desired the above described lever mechanism may be equipped withmeans for quick closing of the valve. This means, as illustrated,comprises a leaf spring which bears against the rear side of the valvebody i, has an upwardly extending portion 36 which is adjustablypositioned relative to the rear column Ill as by a screw 31 attached tothe valve body and a nut 38 thereon and bearing against the portion 5-36of the spring. Near its upper end spring 35 engages the rear end oflever 20 and serves to urge that lever forwardly.

It will be noted that when the valve is closed, as is the case with theparts disposed in the position shown in Fig. l, the pivot pin 23 willlie slightly below a horizontal line 34 drawn through the point ofengagement 40 of the rear end of lever 28 with spring 38 and theengagement of lip 28 with front column l5. In other words, lines drawnfrom point 40 to pivot pin 23 and another line drawn from pivot pin 23to the point of engagement of lip 28 with front column it will form anobtuse angle with the apex pointing downwardly and located below thehorizontal line 34.. However, when the valve is open, as is shown inFig. 2, those two lines will intersect above the horizontal line andwill form an obtuse angle with the apex pointing upwardly. Thus thespring tends to exert force downwardly on the valve plug when the valveis closed and thus assists the float to overcome the pressure of thewater in the inlet pipe which is tending to open the valve. 7 Similarly,when the valve is open, the spring tends to urge the valve plugoutwardly and to resist movement of the float to overcome the pressureof the incoming water and close the valve. This tendency to resistclosing of the valve is changed into a tendency to assist in closing ofthe valve when the pivot 23 moves from above to below a horizontal line.This sudden change results in an acceleration of the valve closingmovement of the plug and, hence, the valve is closed very quickly fromthe wide open to the completely closed position. lhus the valve may bemaintained fully opened for a longer period and may be closed morequickly, both as compared with conventional lever mechanisms. As aresult, the time required to fill the tank is shortened, there is nolong drawn-out throttling of the water supply with the coincidentcreation of excessive noise.

Having thus described the present invention so that others skilled inthe art may be able to understand and practice the same, I state thatwhat I desire to secure by Letters Patent is defined in what is claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. Lever mechanism for a ball cock valve comprising a valve body havinga forward hush pipe extension, a rear column extending upwardly fromsaid body, a front column extending upwardly and forwardly from saidextension, each of said columns being provided with a substantiallyrectangular hole near its upper end, a valve plug having an upwardextension provided with a substantially rectangular hole, a first fiatlever extending forwardly from the hole in the rear column through thehole in the plug and projecting downwardly at its front end, a secondfiat lever extending through the hole in the front column and carryinga, float rod at its forward end, said second lever having a pivoting lipon its upper edge engageable with the rear side of said front column,and a pin pivotally connecting the adjacent ends of said levers.

2. Lever mechanism for a ball cock valve comprising a valve body havinga forward hush pipe extension, a rear column extending upwardly fromsaid body, a front column extending upwardly and forwardly from saidextension. each of said columns being provided with a substantiallyrectangular hole near its upper end. a valve plug having an upwardextension provided with a substantially rectangular hole, a first flatlever extending loosely through the holes in the rear column and in theplug and stopping short of the front column, a second fiat leverextending loosely through the hole in the front column and having anarcuate lower edge provided with a stop to engage the forward side ofsaid front column, and a removable pin pivotally connecting together theadjacent ends of said levers.

3. Lever mechanism for a ball cock valve comprising a valve body havinga forward hush pipe extension, a rear column extending upwardly fromsaid body, a front column extending upwardly and forwardly from saidextension, each of said columns being provided with a substantiallyrectangular hole near its upper end, a valve plug having an upwardextension provided with a substantially rectangular hole, a first fiatlever extending through the holes in the rear column and plug andprojecting downwardly at its forward end, a second flat lever extendingfrom the forward end of the first lever through the hole in the frontcolumn and carrying a float rod at its forward end, said second leverhaving an arcuate lower edge movable in said front column, a pinpivotally connecting together the adjacent ends of said levers, and aspring pressing the first lever forwardly.

4. Lever mechanism for a ball cock valve comprising a valve body havinga forward hush pipe extension, a rear column extending upwardly fromsaid body, a front column extending upwardly and forwardly from saidextension, each of said columns being provided with a substantiallyrectangular hole near its upper end, a valve plug having an upwardextension provided with a substantially rectangular hole, a first fiatlever extending through the holes in the rear column and in the plug andprojecting downwardly at its forward end, a second flat lever extendingfrom the forward end of the first lever through the hole in the frontcolumn and carrying a fioat rod at its forward end, said second leverhaving a pivoting notch in its upper edge, an arcuate lower edgeopposite to said pivoting notch, a clearance notch at one end of saidarcuate edge and a stop at the other end thereof, and a pin pivotallyconnecting the adjacent ends of said levers together.

5. Lever mechanism for a ball cock valve comprising a valve body havinga forward hush pipe extension, a rear column extending upwardly fromsaid body, a front column extending upwardly and forwardly from saidextension, each of said columns being provided with a substantiallyrectangular hole near its upper end, a valve plug having an upwardextension provided with a substantially rectangular hole, a first flatlever extending forwardly from the hole in the rear column through thehole in the plug and projecting downwardly at its front end, a secondflat lever extending through the hole in the front column, having a lipengaging the rear side of said front column and carrying a float rod atits forward end, a pin pivotally connecting the adjacent ends of saidlevers, and a spring engaging the rear end of said first lever andurging the lever forwardly.

6. Lever mechanism for a ball cock valve comprising a valve body havinga forward hush pipe extension, a rear column extending upwardly fromsaid body, a front column extending upwardly and forwardly from saidextension, each of said columns being provided with a substantiallyrectangular hole near its upper end, a valve plug having an upwardextension provided with a substantially rectangular hole, a first fiatlever extending forwardly from the hole in the rear column through thehole in the plug and projecting downwardly at its front end, a secondflat lever extending through the hole in the front column, having a lipengaging the rear side of said front column and carrying a float rod atits forward end, a pin pivotally connecting the adjacent ends of saidlevers slightly below a horizontal line drawn from the rear end of saidfirst lever to said lip, and a spring engaging the rear end of saidfirst lever and urging the lever forwardly.

HARRY F. SMITH.

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